Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I was buying something completely unrelated a few months ago on Amazon, and happened to see some yarn in the corner of the screen, because the Internet knows my weaknesses. I was easily swayed and somehow it ended up in my shopping cart. Flash forward to a few days ago, when I was puttering around at home, wanting to knit but unenthusiastic about WIPs. I pulled this yarn out of the cabinet and starting sketching out some charts on the back of the grocery list.

The sock is knit from the top down with a ribbed cuff and a heel flap construction. The fabric will stretch to accommodate various sizes, but sizing can also be adjusted by increasing or decreasing stitch count in multiples of 8.

Work leg pattern to desired length of leg, ending with an odd row of the pattern.

Heel

Heel flap is worked back and forth on the 32 stitches in the last half of the round. The stitches on the first and second needles form the instep and will rest while the heel is fashioned.

Turn the work to begin working the heel on the wrong side.

Row 1 (WS): Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, purl to end of row

Row 2 (RS): *Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back, K1*, repeat to end of row

Repeat these two rows 15 times. Repeat Row 1 once more.

Heel turn begins on the right side of the work and incorporates short rows to form the three-dimensional heel.

Row 1 (RS): Slip 1, K16, ssk, K1, turn.

Row 2 (WS): Slip 1, P3, P2tog, P1, turn.

Note the gap that is evident between the unworked stitches on the needle and the last worked stitch in the short rows.

Row 3 (RS): Slip 1, K to one stitch before the gap, ssk, K1, turn.

Row 4 (WS): Slip 1, P to one stitch before the gap, p2tog, p1, turn.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until all heel stitches have been worked. Knit across heel stitches.

Gusset and Foot

Rearrange stitches as follows. Slip half of the heel stitches (Needle 1) to a free needle (Needle 3). Slip instep stitches on to a single needle (Needle 2). Needle 2 now has 32 stitches.

Beginning with Needle 1, which has half of the heel stitches, pick up 16 stitches along the heel flap. Work across Needle 2 in next row of leg pattern. With a free needle, pick up 16 stitches along the heel flap and knit across the remaining heel stitches.

Needle 1 now holds half of the foot stitches, Needle 2 has the instep stitches, and Needle 3 holds the other half of the foot stitches. Beginning of round is at center bottom of foot.

Gusset Round 1: Knit to last three stitches on Needle 1, K2tog, K1. Work across Needle 2 in established pattern. On Needle 3, K1, ssk, knit to end of round.